為了增加房屋供應,港府計劃重建二十多個樓齡老舊的公共屋邨。重建公屋可改善居住環境,又可增加公屋單位供應,當然是愈快愈好,問題是說易行難,重建舊屋邨涉及程序繁多,沒有十年八載甚至更長時間都難以成事。

眾所周知,不少公屋位於市區極佳位置,惟因落成年代久遠,地積比亦不高,重建只是遲早的事。可惜,重建並非想像中簡單,首先要考慮如何原區安置居民。就算當局物色到安置用地,居民也支持重建,亦不等於可以立即動工,因為當中還涉及規劃同改變土地用途等程序。以當局屬意率先重建的港島華富邨為例,房屋署承認完成這些程序最少需時七年,遑論真正落成入伙。

房屋問題已成為本港「老大難」問題,近年當局提出多種拓土建屋辦法,除了重建舊屋邨,還包括填海造地、開發新發展區、發展岩洞、改變社區及綠化土地用途,結果不是被指「割地賣港」,就是被譏「盲搶地」。

在當今泛政治化的社會氛圍下,弱勢政府不論做甚麼都有人反對,都會被上綱上線,這不僅體現在房屋問題上,經濟問題、民生問題乃至中港問題亦莫不如此。

It is easier said than done for a weak government to redevelop PRH

In order to increase housing supply, the government plans to redevelop over 20 old public rental housing (PRH) estates. The redevelopment of PRH serves to improve living conditions, and concomitantly enhance the supply of PRH flats. It would of course be better if this can be realized sooner. However, redeveloping old estates is easier said than done as it involves numerous cumbersome procedures. Nothing can really be achieved without spending 8 to 10 years, if not more.

It is known to all that many PRH estates are located in prime urban sites. But as they were built many years ago and the plot ratio at that time was low, it is inevitable that they are doomed to be torn down and rebuilt. Unfortunately, redevelopment is not as simple as one may imagine. First of all, the government has to consider how to rehouse the PRH tenants in-situ. Even if decanting blocks are available and the tenants support the redevelopment, it does not mean that the works can start right away because formalities such as town planning and land rezoning are involved. Take Wah Fu Estate, which the government intends to redevelop first, as an example. The Housing Department admits that it will take at least 7 years to go through all the formalities, not to mention the completion of the whole redevelopment and the intake of tenants.

The housing problem has become a hard nut to crack in Hong Kong. In recent years, the government has put forward a number of methods to open up new housing sites. Other than redeveloping old PRH estates, these methods include reclamation, developing new areas, using caverns, changing the land uses of “government, institution or community” sites and “green belt” sites. Yet the government ends up being criticized as “ceding land and selling out Hong Kong”, or satirized as “blindly usurping land”.

In our pan-politicized society, anything the weak government does would be met with objections and magnified to become a question of principle. This is not only seen in housing, but also in economy, livelihood and Mainland-Hong Kong relationship.

重要生字

easier said than done 說易行難

public rental housing 公屋

a hard nut to crack 「老大難」問題

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